Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 17:21

21. After ἐν ἡμῖν omit ἕν (an insertion from the first clause: comp. John 17:11; John 17:22). Confusion between the clauses makes several patristic quotations ambiguous; but the insertion is strongly supported.

21. ἓν ὦσιν. This is the purpose rather than the purport of the prayer: Christ prays for blessings for His Church with this end in view—that all may be one.

καθώς depends on the second ἵνα, not on the first (comp. John 13:34): the unity of believers is even as the unity of the Father with the Son (John 10:30); not a mere moral unity of disposition, but a vital unity, in which the members share the life of one and the same organism (Romans 12:4-5). Mere agreement in opinion and aim would not convert the world; whereas the eternal unity of believers will produce such external results (‘see how these Christians love one another’), that the world will believe that God sent their Master. Christian unity and love (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31; 1 Corinthians 13) is a moral miracle, a conquest of the resisting will of man, and therefore more convincing than a physical miracle, which is a conquest of unresisting matter. Hence the quarrels of Christians are a perpetual stumbling-block to the world.

The parallel between this verse and 1 John 1:3 is remarkable. If ἀπαγγέλλομεν refers to the Gospel and not to the Epistle, as is probable, then S. John wrote his Gospel in order that this prayer of Christ might be fulfilled.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 17:21

Old Testament

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